Phuket Vegetarian Festival

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival will be held this year from Oct 16 to 25. It was first celebrated in 1825, when a troupe of actors enacted these rites to ward off a plague. Vegetarian food is eaten by participants and white clothes are worn during the nine-day period. Self-mutilation is practiced by those whose bodies become the temporary residence of powerful gods. Parades of worshippers brave fireworks while carrying images through the street; others walk on fire or climb bladed ladders. Participants number in the thousands. The whole forms one of the most bizarre festivals in Thailand.
A full schedule of the festival is available at www.phukettourism.org